Thursday, June 29, 2006

minor panic

Did you know that iPods have a diagnostic mode? I didn't, either, until I inadvertently put mine into it this afternoon. I was sweeping the front drive and thought it would be nice to have some music to sweep by.

Instead of turning the thing on, I inadvertently pushed the magic key-combination to put it into diagnostic mode.

Unfortunately, I had no idea how to get it out. The idea that there may be something wrong with this expensive little gadget gave me that bad feeling in the pit of my stomach -- it was so expensive, and it's broken already! How could that have happened? I felt like a bad little girl.

Fortunately, through the Great Resources of the Internet, I found this site, with these helpful hints:

Diagnostic mode. For the iPod Video: toggle the Hold switch on then off, then press and hold the Back and Select buttons. I can't believe I actually did that -- why would I hold down two buttons simultaneously? I don't think I did. But it's massively humid here, so maybe that's making the controls a little sticky...

Restarting a Frozen iPod. For the iPod Video, the magic key combination is: slide Hold button on then off, then press the Menu and Select (not Play) buttons at the same time. Earlier versions used the Menu/Play combination, but that does nothing on the video iPod.

For the record, the Apple iPod Help page gives the same information, but either I spazzed out and did it incorrectly (likely), or I followed the instructions for the wrong iPod version. I'd be embarrassed by being such an idiot but suppressed panic does impair my competence somewhat, and right now I'm just relieved that the thing is working. (The Concert in Central Park, Simon & Garfunkel)